Category Archives: wheat

I poisoned my child. It was bound to happen. But I wasn’t expecting something so delicious to be so sinister.

Read. The. Labels. Check them twice, and even then, be suspicious. Gluten is evil. It lurks, it hides and when you least expect it… BAM!

There is a recipe from “the old days” called a 7 layer bar. The one layer we have never added was the walnut layer, so that has always been out, and even though we only had 6 layers we still called them “7 layer bars”.

Anyway… last week I found some gluten free graham cracker crumbs IN A BOX AT THE STORE!!!…and there was much rejoicing, as layer 2 is graham cracker crumbs.. and we can’t have those. I have attempted to make gluten free graham crackers before.. but finding them already to go, at the store? nice. Having to make a recipe, before you make a recipe is not the most fun.

So, we tossed in the layers one, two and three (chocolate chips) and gleefully sprinkled on the butterscotch chips and continued with layers (if you are still counting) five and six. Baked it all up!, cut into bars! and enjoyed. Wow, they were just like I remembered! all yummy and coconutty and chippy. Who doesn’t like a solid square of melty sugar covered in coconut? really.

And then the nasty headaches started. uh oh., and the digestive upset. yikes!, and then the heartburn and the continuing long list of weird gluten poisoning reactions that we get – including the itchy ears (which I really hate enough to keep me from ever cheating on this gluten free diet).

Where I went wrong: I had been so careful to see the gluten free on the box of graham cracker crumbs, that I missed the small print on the butterscotch chips. Yep. Artificial flavoring (includes barley malt). Says so right on the label.

Drat.

Hopefully we can replace the (stupid, evil, poisonous) butterscotch chips with something just as yummy but safe.

Yeah… “good luck with that”, you say. Impossible? Well, almost. I was on the road last week. We travelled more than 1900 miles and really only had a couple of “gluten incidents” but…

I went prepared with my own food in coolers, which helped out a lot, but having to chose what to eat out on the way to our destination and back was really the biggest challenge. I did have access to grocery stores, and a kitchen (sort of) while we were there, so I was prepared, but I was winging it mostly to see what would happen. I will be even more prepared next time. I am building a travel kit of “portable kitchen” to take with me next time. Think camping. Think long-term camping.

Things to remember:

Gluten free is only as good as you can make it…. meaning if that if the kitchen you have is also used by wheat users, then don’t use the counter. For anything. Put down a paper towel to prepare your food on. And prepare your food as seperately as possible.

Don’t trust a cutting board that you can’t swear to it’s last use or when it was put through the dishwasher last. Take your own.

Fresh fruit can be had at the store.

Collenders are impossible to clean… meaning that if you rinse your newly purchased fresh fruit in a collender that was rinsed out after draining wheat pasta… you now have wheat on your fruit. Trust me on that one.

Other hidden dangers: Handwashed dishes, cups, and bowls in the cupboard that are seemingly “clean”… also handwashed or just rinsed off knives used to prepare another food are not as clean as you might think. I just am so picky about a knife being used to cut up an apple that was only rinsed off after cutting up raw chicken. I am so picky.

Fixing meals in wasn’t difficult, I do that all the time, and actually -eating out wasn’t that hard- if I just stuck to “plain anything” and not on a bun, and asked for their allergen chart ahead of time. Several restaurant chains have these online, which is nice. So look at that before you leave home, so that when faced with the dilema of where to eat, you at least have a fighting chance of having anything to eat.

I ate way too much salad as a result of my “winging it plan” , and even though I like salad, I would have really preferred my lasagna that I had brought with me in the first place. My travelling kitchen is my next project.

Peanut butter and jelly bagels were my favorite thing last week (see post on bagels). Premixed and portioned out trail mix was also a lifesaver on the trip.

Yeah, so like the Keebler elves trying to kill me wasn’t enough. Oh no. I totally caved in and tried some of the new Cheetoes crackers. The list of ingredients is longer than my arm and completely includes things I can’t have. Wheat, soy, dairy, MSG, everythingelse.

Why, then, am I so surprised by a nasty reaction this morning? I am just in denial. This stuff is toxic, and I can’t eat it. I just wish there was an alternative food. Cheetos are not probably even an actual food product, maybe they are an entire food group all by themselves. Doesn’t matter. I just have to think “POISON” when I see them. Drat.

I go for months not caring (really) whether I ate any crackers or not… but open a fresh box of salted garlic and herb crackers near me? and, well, I ate one. ONE! for pete’s sakes, and you’d think by the amount of itching that I am going through now that I had eaten the whole box.

Stupid wheat allergy. Tolerence levels have definately changed. Or maybe it’s just that I know the reason for the itching now.

Whatever. I am sick of it.

Cross contamination of my kitchen has to stop. At this point, because I don’t know what else to do about it really, I make “my food” and package it away in the freezer- whole batches of food all sorted out into 1/2 cup containers. Then if they want tacos, I know that the tortillas aren’t mixed up in dusting my dinner with flour for that night. The trouble now comes from that I am doing the cooking of their wheat laced foods, and I think I am reacting to that sometimes too.

Gluten, (masquarading as wheat, rye, barley or oats) makes me sick. So that means that anything that is manufactured and placed in a box at the market for sale I can’t eat. Oh, well… sure I can eat it- I just get violently ill if I do. So my life now consists of planning menus for myself and a usually a separate one for the rest of the family.

They just don’t always like “my food”. But I HAVE to like it or starve. So they are eating heathier at least (like the ban on HFCS in my kitchen)

I am currently exceeding tired of rice noodles. :::sigh:::

I have a recipe file that is way too large, containing things I thought might work, combinations of spices to try. Whatever. It needs to be weeded out again. LOL The last time I went through I got rid of anything that said “corn”.

Yep. That’s out too.

So I make all these lists… create menus and find edible recipes… and the dietician says to me… “you know more about this than anyone on the diet for 5 years.”

huh? well.. I thought I was paying for her advice. Turns out she wants mine. So here goes. I will be randomly adding recipes that don’t have all the things in them that I can’t eat….like all the top ten allergens known to man…. and random samplings of what I am knitting…. or any thoughts I have about cabbage.

I have had three doctors ask me what in the world I do eat. One of them had zero advice for me- other than saying that I should pray.

Um. sure. that is so helpful. thanks.

How about pointing me to the nearest farmer’s market instead! sheesh.

Have you ever seen a cabbage net? If you have please contact me. Thanks.